Managing a trophy fishery can be boiled down to three principles. First you must provide a superb habitat, second you need a low density predator population, and finally you need a highly diverse and abundant forage population. Earlier this year we talked in depth about assessing a bass population and how to determine if fish need to be culled. Now, I want to take some time to talk about forage.

I am sure you have heard it a thousand times, bass need to eat 10 lbs of live forage to gain 1 lb of body weight. What you don't hear is that if you need 10 lbs of forage fish that means you need 100 lbs of whatever the forage fish eat, and if they eat something that eats something else then you need 1000 lbs of that something else. Therefore, competition between forage species can be just as important as competition between predators. This means you really need diverse forage population. Most lakes have a single species which is the base of the food chain. In a trophy management situation along with the base species other forage species which fill unique niches are used to consume food that is underutilized by the base species.

The base forage species needs to have some specific characteristics. It will need to reproduce often, grow to a large size quickly, and rarely if ever compete with bass for food. In Texas we use bluegill sunfish as the base of the food chain. Bluegill have small sized mouths relative to their body size. They eat mainly insects or supplemental fish food, they can grow to over 12 inches and weights of 2+ lbs, they reproduce multiple times per year when water temperatures are between 65 to 80 degrees, they can live 5-8 years, and they mature fairly quickly. Bluegill embody the perfect forage species for bass. However, you can only grow so many insects in your lake and therefore so many bluegill. With high density bluegill populations many lake owners turn to fish feeders and high protein feed to increase bluegill growth, survival, and density. The use of fish food and feeders has become instrumental in the management of trophy largemouth bass fisheries.

Once a base species is established and abundant the next step is to utilize other food sources to increase forage for bass. Lets take a look at what there is to eat in a lake besides insects. If the lake is fertile you have phytoplankton, you certainly have detritus "decaying plant and animal matter on the bottom of the lake", you may have filamentous algae or other vegetation types, or you may have mollusks like snails or mussels. If bluegill are eating mainly insects then all these other food items are going underutilized. Finding a forage species to fill each of these niches is the way you can diversify a food chain.

Phytoplankton are consumed by almost all juvenile fish, some insects, and zooplankton. Few adult fish can feed directly on phytoplankton. One that can is threadfin shad. They can grow to a maximum of 6-8 inches, mature quickly, live in open water, and spawn in communities multiple times during from spring through fall. They are somewhat temperature intolerant and will die off at water temperatures below 42 degrees. They do have a short life expectancy and likely will not live over 3 years. Their small adult size and temperature intolerance will make periodic restocking mandatory.

Detritus is another food source not utilized by bluegill. Detritus feeders include gizzard shad, crawfish, and freshwater prawns. Detritus is decaying plant and animal matter on the bottom of the pond. This food source is constantly increasing as the lake decomposes waste. Gizzard shad begin life feeding on phytoplankton. As adults they feed on zooplankton and eventually as zooplankton is depleted they feed on detritus. Unlike threadfin shad, gizzard shad have a slightly down turned mouth meaning they can feed on the bottom more easily. They grow to lengths of 18 inches, have life expectancy of 8 to 10 year, have extremely high amounts of egg production, and mature quickly. Due to their large growth and ability to out compete other forage species gizzard shad use in trophy fisheries can be considered controversial. Upon initial stocking gizzard shad add a huge benefit to a trophy lake but long term their presence will become more detrimental to the fishery.

Crawfish and prawns are crustaceans which feed not only on detritus but upon vegetation, fish food, small fish, and anything else they can get close to their mouths. Crawfish can be purchased from various suppliers and at any size desired. Crawfish should be purged by the supplier before transport to insure a high survival. Reproductive needs of crawfish depend on species stocked, most will need to burrow. This means soft soils, rock, or wood cover will be instrumental in creating a reproducing population. Crawfish prefer environments with excellent water quality so bottom diffusion aeration will increase likelihood of long term survival. Crawfish tendency to burrow can cause structural damage to levee lakes in some situations.

Prawns are a relative newcomer to being used as a forage species. They do not burrow so there is little to no risk when stocking them. They typically are purchased as juveniles 1-2 inches in length. Prawns grow quickly and can reach over 12 inches in 3 to 4 months if fed correctly. It is beneficial to stock them into a nursery pond as juveniles and grow them to the desired size before stocking them as forage in the lake. Prawns will not reproduce in the lake because they need brackish water and they are slightly temperature intolerant. Due to these characteristics they will need to be restocked every spring.

Tilapia consume algae, floating plants, phytoplankton, some rooted plants, fish food, and mosquito larva. In Texas we can stock Mozambique tilapia into private lakes. Tilapia are unique in the fact that they are mouth brooders which carry their eggs with them. This insures a higher survival of their offspring over other forage fish. They will reproduce every 28 days when water temperature is above 70 degrees. Due to their high survival and their diverse diet tilapia are widely considered an excellent forage fish. The Mozambique tilapia will only last one season as they die with water temperatures below 52 degrees.

In most situations mollusks like snails are present in a lake and in some situations mussels can even be present. Redear sunfish have long been used to control snail populations to prevent parasites from infecting fish. More recently they have been used to control invasive quagga mussels. Redear easily grow to 8 to 10 inches and weigh 1 lb+ eating snails. The readear used to control quagga mussels are growing to be over 5 lbs. Redear can eat mollusk using their pharyngeal teeth to crush the shells. Redear reproduce once per year but their unique diet makes them instrumental in all fisheries.

Diversifying the food chain is an important principle in managing a trophy fishery. Once the base of the food chain is established the use of multiple other forage species which utilize specific food sources will greatly increase forage abundance and diversity. Increasing forage abundance and diversity will insure long term growth of bass or other predators. This is one part of managing a fishery and is no more important then improving habitat or culling fish to create low density predator population. There are several other forage species which we didn't cover because they create competition with predators, one of these is the rainbow trout. Selecting a proper forage plan may take further guidance from a professional but hopefully this article will help you began to understand the reasons forage species are recommended.

As your lake fills for the very first time, you must wait patiently for the opportunity to begin stocking fish. Before fish can be stocked you will need to make sure the lake will hold water, that water turbidity is not an issue, and that the lake is fertile. When you are finally able to stock baitfish, months of waiting will follow as baitfish grow and reproduce. Building a large forage population is instrumental for long term success in any fishery. Eventually it will be time to stock the predator fish. If done correctly the fish will thrive and the lake will experience a phenomenon called New Lake Effect.

A New Lake Effect is considered the magical first 5-7 years when baitfish populations are abundant, predators exhibit extraordinary growth, and catch rates are high. With proper management you can continue this success for several more years. However, many road blocks will occur as you attempt to manage your dream fishery. Aquatic plants will grow, trash fish may show up, or drought could reduce your water body to half size or less.

Short term drought can be beneficial to a lake as it will reduce vegetated growth along the shoreline and can increase predators ability to capture forage fish. If the drought extends several years the negative effects will begin to increase. Forage fish populations will be greatly reduced, vegetation can become very abundant, predator fish will lose weight, and shoreline brush can begin to prohibit bank fishing.

Once the drought finally breaks and the lake begins to fill you may experience a miniature New Lake Effect. The existing forage fish will have an abundance of newly flooded vegetation available to them, and they will use this vegetation to avoid predation. Their offspring will have a greater chance of survival and the fishery will experience an abundance of forage fish.

The following year, an increase forage base and a mature habitat begins to equal fat predator fish. Years two and three will be marked with overweight fish. With the right management years four and five you may begin to see young trophy-caliber fish being caught consistently.

This phenomenon is not limited to private lakes and in fact all of North and Central Texas reservoirs could experience a miniature New Lake Effect with the recent rains. The potential is there for all our fisheries to thrive over the coming years.

There is something about the little crustacean called crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads that humans and bass alike cannot resist. I know crawfish etouffee is high on my list of can't miss meals and I have seen studies that show bass prefer crawfish over bluegill 9 to 1 and even 24 to 1. Logistically if that is true then by stocking crawfish into your lake you will greatly increase the survival of bluegill for a short time. More bluegill surviving in the spring for even an extra month can make a large difference in their reproductive potential. This also means that any lure resembling a crawfish should become the go to bait as long as crawfish are present in the waterbody.

Lets look at crawfish and see if they are right for your lake. First they will thrive in lakes with vegetative, rocky, or wood cover, lack of cover equals short life expectancy due to predation. Crawfish do need excellent water quality so bottom diffusion aeration is preferred. Crawfish are omnivours, which means they can and will eat anything. Insects, fish, plants, and detritus (decaying matter on the lake bottom) will all become food for crawfish so you don't need to do anything special to feed them. Depending on the species they will reproduce by burrowing therefore leevee lakes may not be the best lakes to build dense crawfish populations. I have read conflicting studies on the amount of protein a crawfish consist of and therefore how well bass grow on crawfish diets. What I do know based on my personal experience is that at the end of the year bass in lakes stocked with crawfish have higher relative weights and that is something everyone wants.

I typically stock crawfish at a rate of 50-100 lbs per acre beginning in April and going through June depending on the weather. Hopefully if you decide to stock crawfish this spring you will do so understanding the benfits and potential risk. In the end we know that the bass in your lake will enjoy the benefits of this unique forage item no matter what.

We have all been in the situation where we catch a small bass in a pond and have to decide do I release it and let it grow bigger or should I cull it to leave more food for other bass. The answer lies somewhere in a grey area of body condition vs age. If we know the age of a bass and its current length and weight we can quickly decide if it is overweight, underweight, stunted, or at standard weight.

What makes this process difficult is the fact that a fish does not have an age dictated length. This is due to the fact that they grow based solely on what they eat. Therefore a 10 inch bass could technically be a few months or 10 years old.

The 10 inch 10 year old bass is considered stunted because its growth for its age is less then anticipated. It is difficult to properly age a fish without removing its otalith. An otalith is a small ear bone located towards the back of the skull of a fish. If you remove the otalith you can count the rings and determine its age however, you are left with a dead bass no matter the age. This makes otalith aging impractical for use as a pond owner.

Luckily there is a fairly strong correlation between the length and the weight of a bass. A 10 inch bass will not be 10 lbs instead a 10 inch bass will almost always be near .5 lbs. This means a bass individual weight can be predicted based on its length. A fish is considered underweight when it weighs less then expected for its length. Just as a fish is considered overweight when it weight more then expected for its length.

The most often used method to determine the body condition of a given fish is to calculate relative weight (Wr = Measured W/ Standard W *100). Relative weights are recorded as a percentage of standard weight.

A 10 inch .5 lb bass would have a relative weight of 100% because it weighs what it should for its length. A 10 inch 1 lb bass would have a relative weight of 200% which means it is greatly overweight and will be increasing in length very quickly. A high relative weight like this example would be difficult to sustain unless forage was greatly abundant.

Conversely a 10 inch .25 lb bass would have a relative weight of 50%. This fish is underweight but most importantly this mean that fish have lost weight. The bass grew to a size of 10 inches and .5 lbs but has not eaten enough forage to sustain its weight and therefore has lost weight to become underweight. Just because this fish is underweight does not mean it cannot rebound. In fact depending on its age this fish can still have the potential to grow into a trophy fish one day.

What all this means is it is difficult to judge one fish and decide if it should be released or culled once caught. Instead you need data, and lots of it. The more fish you record the more trends you will find in the relative weights of the entire population. Eventually you will see groups of fish that are similar size. These fish may be underweight, stunted, or both.

Below you can find a standard weight chart to use to determine the relative weight of your fish.

Camp John Marc, hidden just outside of Meridian offers archery, boating, zip lines, horseback riding, volleyball, fishing, and any other activity you can imagine. However, this is no ordinary camp. It is a camp for children with chronic medical and physical challenges and their families. The camp sits on 135 acres of donated land from Dr. Marc Myers who lost his son, John Marc, to osteogenic sarcoma in 1987. The next year he donated the land to "Special Camps for Special Kids" and Camp John Marc was born. In June of 1991 the camp officially opened and that summer the camp was attended by 500 chronically ill campers from Children's Medical Center and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. The next year to now the camp has been visited by over 1000 campers every summer.

The Sportsman's Club of Fort Worth has helped to keep Crow Lake at Camp John Marc stocked with sunfish, catfish, and bass since the beginning. Their generosity has provided many of the campers the opportunity to catch their first fish. Over the years campers have all tried unsuccessfully to hook Netter the mythical catfish that can steal your bait without being hooked. The fishing experience from the dock always tops the list of the kids favorite camp activities each summer.

From time to time the Sportsman's Club of Fort Worth calls me to consult on various aspects of the fishery. This summer I was called in when the camp guest were reporting low catch rates from the dock. I quickly scheduled a survey and headed to Crow Lake to find out exactly what was going on. Turns out they have plenty of catfish and bass and a fair amount of sunfish. The problem was that the fish were no where near the dock. The feeders on the dock would go off and attract the fish for a short time but once the feed was gone the fish would quickly leave also.

Based on the survey results I designed a plan to improve angling at the dock which included changing up feeding times slightly, restocking additional sunfish, adding fish lights, and most importantly adding structure underneath the dock. The dock averages a depth from 5-6 ft throughout the entire length and is absolutely bare lake bottom. To attract and hold sunfish the plan was to line the entire underneath of the dock with artificial structure. Then we also would place structure underneath the throwing range of the feeders. This will hopefully give the bluegill security and habitat under the dock and safety while feeding. For the artificial structures I selected the 4 ft stakeout bed from Fishiding.com to go underneath the dock and the Mossbacks MB1 for the feeding area. This week the 60 Fishiding stakeout units plus some extra units David Ewald donated and 16 Mossbacks were placed into the designated locations. Hopefully with these additions and our other management practices we can continue to do our small part to contribute to the great things that Camp John Marc is doing.

I owe a thank you to the Sportsmen's Club of Fort Worth (http://www.sportsmensclub.org/) for allowing us to be part of the project.

Please visit Camp John Marc's website to find out more about their organization: https://www.campjohnmarc.org/

Every pond and lake has a story, many times we have no idea what that story actually is. The pond in the attached pictures is very unique. Mature trees surround the entire bank, many trees have fallen into the pond, there are cattails and rooted vegetation growing throughout the pond, and the water clarity is 5+ ft. The pond is easily be 40+ years old and if you didn't know better you would think it was last fished a decade ago. The first cast you take with a weightless worm is immediately hit by a 10 inch bass. At the end of the day you can catch more bass then you could imagine but most are 10 -12 inches. Every once in a while you may get 5 lb bass. So how could this pond be any better?

Well, honestly the first thing that comes to mind is if the water wasn't so clear it would be a much more productive pond. Production of a pond is associated with clarity because clarity is greatly dictated by phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are microscopic plants that give water its green water color. Phytoplankton provide oxygen to the water via photosynthesis, they are also eaten by zooplankton. Zooplankton are eaten by small fish and of course small fish are eaten by larger fish. Therefore, phytoplankton is the base of the aquatic food chain. Clear water means there is an extremely scarce phytoplankton bloom.

So why is there so little phytoplankton in this pond? The short answer is that phytoplankton need nutrients to grow and at some point either that nutrient source was depleted, or more likely an aquatic plant has started out competing the phytoplankton for the nutrient. Aquatic vegetation species in general are much larger and more stable organisms then phytoplankton. Therefore, they are able to absorb nutrient more easily then the phytoplankton over the long term. Initially rooted aquatic vegetation growth will be controlled by water clarity. The plants basically will not be able to grow where sunlight can not penetrate. In a perfect world aquatic vegetation would grow in about 10% of every pond. This would provide juvenile fish excellent habitat and increase their survival while still allowing phytoplankton to maintain a healthy population. The problem is that the aquatic vegetation will begin to grow in shallow areas of 2-3 ft in depth and eventually as they out compete phytoplankton and increase water clarity they will spread to greater depths. Over time these plants can and will grow to the surface of the pond and could cause fish kills due to oxygen shortages.

The question becomes how do we prevent this from happening in your pond and the answer depends mainly on what phase your pond currently is in. If you are in the design or construction phase begin planning to use a bank slope that will give you depth quickly to decrease the area that rooted vegetation can grow. Many times I use a 3 to 1 slope meaning for every 1 foot you go out into the pond the depth increases by 3 ft. After reaching a depth of 9 ft I decrease the slope and begin to build the contour of the lake bottom I prefer.

If you have an established pond you must look at what symptoms your pond is currently experiencing. Is the majority of the lake shallow (less then 6 ft)? Do you have aquatic vegetation covering more then 10% of the pond bottom? Is water clarity greater then 18-24 inches? If you are saying yes to these questions it is time to get a plan started to control vegetation and decrease water clarity. The best way to do this is by using a multifaceted approach combining biological, chemical and mechanical control methods. First, look into why are the plants growing. If the pond is shallow you may need to increase depth in many areas. Take the 2-3 ft water and try to increase it to 6-8 ft. This will be expensive but will increase the production of the pond greatly. Second look into what plants are growing and use herbicide and either Triploid Grass Carp or Tilapia to help you control the plant. Once the majority of the aquatic plants are controlled begin to use a dissolved fertilizer to promote phytoplankton growth. Fertilize when water temperatures are between 68-75 degrees but only after rooted plants are controlled. By using the dissolved fertilizer you will stimulate a phytoplankton bloom which helps to shade the pond bottom and prevent further plant growth.

In many ponds the drought is contributing to the shallow depths and increase vegetation growth. If this is the case in your pond looking into alternative water sources such as well water. But before you pump your pond full read my blog from last week, get your well water quality checked, and ask me about how to pipe the water into the pond safely.

Everyday your fish make choices on what to eat. You may have stocked a truck load of bluegill, bought minnows at the feed store, or had someone bring out threadfin shad but maybe the bass prefer the frogs along the shore or have found crawfish to feed on. So the question is what are your bass really eating? Fly fishermen may hold the answer to that question.

Fly fishing is traditionally done in streams, creeks, and rivers where water is constantly moving and is very clear. This means the gamefish have the advantage of sight. They can see the lures very clearly and many times react less on instinct and more on what they see. This is why fly fishermen try to "Match the Hatch" or use a fly that imitates the look of insects the gamefish are naturally feeding on. They do this by making educated guesses based the insects and larva they see, time of year and past experiences. Every once in a while they select the lure they think is best and catch only a few fish. This is when a fly fishermen pulls out a secret weapon, the stomach pump.

A stomach pump is an extremely simple tool that relies on the fact that fish do not have a very complex digestive system. If water is pushed into the stomach at a low pressure, usually the contents can be washed back out. The fish is not harmed as long as you use the correct sized tubing and don't force anything. The resulting stomach contents can then be examined to determine what the fish is actually eating. This works on trout but also on bass, bluegill, and crappie.

As a bass fishermen this would be useful in selecting lure sizes, colors, and shape. But it is not a necessity because many times largemouth bass feed by reaction rather then by sight. Where the stomach pump may be more useful is for largemouth bass and forage population management. Lets examine the 8 inch bass below. When I looked at the stomach contents what was seen is seven juvenile sunfish, several insect larva, and one freshwater shrimp. What that tells me is not only what the bass is feeding on but also where it is feeding. Based on the insect larva and the shrimp we can concluded that this bass is feeding near aquatic vegetation or structure and in shallow water. As a biologist I use this tool all the time. Many times I find what I am expecting; bluegill and shad. Occasionally I will see grasshopper and crawfish parts, small bass, or catfish, and every once in a while a mouse. Based on what we find we can decide what food chain improvements are working and what we can be do better. The goal is to have a diverse and plentiful food chain to grow the bass you desire.

Below is a picture of a pump you can purchase at any fly fishing outfitter.